College, University, Special Libraries Division of the Alabama Library Association

Posts Tagged ‘Library cats’

I hope no one minds another library cat story. This one comes from Kent, UK via the BBC. The cat in question, Fidel, apparently doesn’t like being left alone because he shows up when his owners are at work and leaves when they come home. As always, the cat is immensely popular with the library’s patrons.

As if one cat weren’t enough, the Ocean Shores Public Libraryin Washington has two: Olivia and Waldo, the latest in a number of cats they have given homes to. Someone at the Seattle Times must like cats because not only is the story accompanied by a picture but there is a nice little video of the cats in the library and a photo gallery, as well. Here is a picture of of Olivia working at the circulation desk:

I was looking at our blog stats today and was amused, though not surprised, to find that my post last February on “Library-themed Wedding Invitations” continues to outpace all other posts in numbers of hits by at least a factor of 2. I can only suppose that lots of librarians are getting married and looking for ideas! The only post that challenges its status are my two posts about Dewey, the library cat. Well, who didn’t know that there are lots of cat lovers in the world? Of course, Dewey’s “biography” has generated a lot of attention everywhere.

Almost as popular has been my post “Dinosauers with Blogs”. I can’t prove it but, since visitors are finding it by searching on the single word “dinosauers”, I suspect that I have disappointed an awful lot of children trying to do school reports!

We continue to get many hits thanks to a site called alphainventions.com. All the more reason that I want to solicit input from my fellow Cussers! We can now let the world know what cool things are going on in Alabama libraries.

I just discovered that Dewey– no, not Melvil but Dewey Readmore Books (see previous post) is going to have a movie made about him! Variety reports that Meryl Streep will play Vicki Myron, the retired Spencer Library director and author. No word on who will play Dewey.

Does this woman look like a librarian?

I can’t help but be pleased that a movie is going to be made that is all about a library, a cat and a librarian. Forget raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens. Libraries, cats and librarians are three of my favorite things!

Like most, if not all, blog software, WordPress tracks what search terms have led people to this site. Today I was surprised to see that we turned up in a search for “Dewey Readmore Books”. I suppose that I have mentioned Melvil and, certainly, the word books has shown up, but Readmore?

However, I was struck, chiefly, by the coincidence that I just finished reading Dewey’s biography Monday night. No, not Melvil’s but Readmore’s.

This handsome fellow spent 19 years delighting the Spencer (Iowa) Public Library staff and the people of Spencer, children and adults, alike, until his recent death. Despite my fondness for cats, I am not usually drawn to books of this sort. However, I came across a review that piqued my interest and so I read the book. It seems to me that it was at least as much about Spencer and the role libraries play in small rural communities, as about Dewey. In any case, I enjoyed it very much.

Cats in libraries are a well-known phenomenon. In fact, there is a Library Cats Map. You can click on any region of the US (and much of the world) and read a description of the library cats in that area. It doesn’t appear to have been updated in more than a year but its maker, Iron Frog productions, is, allegedly, interested in creating the most comprehensive compilation of library cats possible.